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Best Spells by Betty Croaker

Submitted by Ghoul Friday

on November 3, 2011 - 12:15pm

On Tuesday, I spent close to nine hours putting away Halloween decorations because I decided to completely reorganize the bins (and make sure everything was off the floor since we had that incident with water in the basement after the torrential storm).

While doing so, I came across a box of all the decorations I had made for my first big Halloween party back in Grade 4.

Amidst the paper bats and pumpkins was a bound book entitled "Best Spells By Betty Croaker" (and my other name). I do enjoy that I put a copyright symbol on it.

I'd bound the book with thread and used wall paper for the cover. No, the wallpaper isn't very scary, but when you're little you have to work with what's in the house.

The book is a collection of spells for monsters from A to Z. Some are classic Halloween characters while others are creatures I'd seen in my Dungeons & Dragons books (I didn't play at the time, I just liked having books about monsters).

Want to make a mimic? A Frankenstein monster? A Zorma?

It's all here.

Need an elf for a recipe but don't have one on hand? No worries. There's a recipe for making your own elf.

A is actually an introduction. Note how little Ghoul uses the traditional spelling of Hallowe'en.

I hope you enjoy the pictures below. I got a good chuckle out of them.

The funniest comment was from Yetch who found the book on the table while I was out. When I got home our conversation went something like this:

Y: I went through your book. It's really cute.

Me: Yeah, I found it in a box of old Halloween stuff.

Y: Saw you had trouble coming up with something for Q

Me: Well I WAS like 8 or 9. I think I can cut my younger self a little slack. I mean, what starts with Q anyway?

Y: You made that when you were 9?!?

(I'm still listing monsters in my brain, trying to come up with one that starts with Q. It only hits me now - as I type this - that Quasimodo would've worked but this was pre-Disney Hunchback movie so I still cut my younger self slack. Then I focus on how shocked he is at how young I was and I am afraid to ask "Yeah...how old did you THINK I was when I made it? In my 20's?")

Me: Yeah.

Y: Was it for school?

Me: Nah, it was for my Halloween party.

Y: Oh really?!? *laughing* I totally thought it was for a school project. Then that's REALLY great! I can't believe you did that much work and it wasn't for school.

(I refrain again from posing a question such as "Are you JUST meeting me for the first time?" and smile at him, secure in the knowledge we will always surprise each other. )

Added after: OH and for the record, one of the ingredients I used for a spell was a mandrake root. Take that, JK Rowling. I will be writing for my share of your earnings soon.

I'm thoroughly impressed with this past project. 4th Grade and you're already putting the work to seasoned Monster Manual creators to shame. Such an inventive and creative way to catalog your favorite creatures.

In particular, I love the odd yet exact number of lightning bolts necessary to complete a Frankenstein's Monster.